‘This is Spinal Tap’
Rob Reiner’s 1984 mockumentary about a middle-aged heavy metal band desperately trying to stay relevant is so crammed with gags — visual and spoken — that you can watch it repeatedly and still not catch them all. Even more impressive is the fact that those gags were mostly improvised by Reiner (playing filmmaker Marty Di Bergi) and the rest of the cast, including the band members — frontman David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), lead guitarist Nigel Tufnell (Christopher Guest) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer). The chemistry between those three — childhood friends who’ve never really progressed beyond adolescence — is utterly believable and the film nails the ego battles, highs and lows, and camaraderie of any long-term creative collaboration. It’s also a supremely confident takedown of the inherent ludicrousness of fame, muso pretentiousness, the monetization of music, and music documentaries. The numerous quotable lines and scenarios have become part of the vocabulary of bands around the world.
Adam Grundey
‘What We Do in the Shadows’
No, “What We Do in the Shadows” is not some kind of gritty, explicit cinema verité. It’s a mashup of “The Office” and “The Blair Witch Project.” A mocumentary that follows four vampires sharing a flat together in New Zealand, and their day-to-day (or night-to-night, to be more accurate) activities. From feasting on after-hours club dwellers to stalking their octogenarian former lovers — all while steering clear of the werewolves (not scarewolves). Each of these eccentric bloodsuckers comes with their own personal baggage, from dreams lost to lovers killed, but you can’t help but laugh at the mundanity of their lives.
